Category Archive

I interviewed Jessica Beck, an ELT materials creator of 3 Keys IELTS, podcast co-host and IELTS expert. We talked about her experience teaching exams, working at home (she's a mom!), and creating content for her podcasts and online course. If you're short on time, click open the video table of contents below and jump forward to the topics you want ...

Nicola Prentis, ELT materials writer and prolific blogger interviewed Jaime Miller about her experience teaching ESL online. Nicola asks about how Jaime keeps her schedule full of motivated students, as well as her opinion on how women in ELT can step out of their comfort zone. Video Table of ContentsUse the time stamps and Nicola's questions below to navigate the ...

There have been a lot of changes over the summer! Don’t miss this video update on the changes in my online training programs. Online Tutor Launchpad starts October 20th! It is a business development course that leads you through the same process I did (without wasting time on the mistakes I made). By mastering five concepts, I went from having …

This is article 3 of 6 in the series: How (& Why) to Teach Exams. If you’re an ESL teacher, I bet you could do with some extra money each month. Let me walk you through the same simple process that my business mentor took me through back in 2010. Making these shifts doesn’t happen immediately or get results tomorrow — …

This is article 4 of 6 in the series, How (& Why) to Teach Exams. To become a really effective exams teacher, you need to practice. A lot. A whole lot. You basically just need to follow the same process that brought you the sense of confidence about teaching other things. Below you’ll find advice about how to fill your schedule …

This is article 2 of 6 in the series: How (& Why) to Teach Exams. There are some people who like to splash around in the shallow end where life is safe. Others of us head straight for the deep end. It’s the thrill, right? For me, it’s definitely the thrill. My love of risk was why I moved to Turkey …

When your ESL students aren’t excited about English, it’s hard for you to be excited, either. That’s why I knew I had to share two really important teacher trainers with you. I met Daniel Barber and Duncan Foord at the Innovate ELT conference and I asked them to do an interview with me for my new series, The Face of Virtual ESL. You …

After five years of teaching TOEFL iBT, there are some resources I have on speed dial — and others that burned me and are now only used with extreme caution. My “Use with Extreme Caution” List Look, I know how challenging it is to write quality test prep material. That’s why I don’t do it. It’s expensive and time-consuming (ETS takes months and shells …

Below are four common indications that you aren’t comfortable with how to teach exams — and why students might just take one or two exam prep lessons with you, and then disappear without a trace. Reason #1 – You don’t have enough other TOEFL students. Have you ever made a decision about which restaurant to eat in based on how many customers were already …

In my days of naked ignorance about teaching TOEFL iBT, I was so honest. When students would ask me questions like, “How long do I need to improve my speaking score?” I used to say “Uhhh… I don’t know. As long as it takes.” Helpful? Not really. Five years, three multimedia TOEFL iBT self-study programs, countless consultations and thousands of …